The activities of the Red Cross in Africa and the Near East generally are known to have imposed an increased burden on the Red Cross and St. John War Organization whose appeal is sponsored by the Duke of Gloucester while the claim of prisoners of war has grown more urgent since the Greek campaign. In this connection. the following extract from the Red Cross Summary of Work of May 3 is of interest.
"Checks on Parcels, Do prisoners of war in Germany receive their per. cels? Doubt is sometimes expressed. A few facts will put readers of the Summary of Work in a position to answer enquiries. Three methods of checking the arrival of parcels are open to the Central Agency for Prisoners of War at Geneva "The fret is its system of receipt for parcels despatched. Its despatches are accompanied by a return receipt card to be signed upon delivery by the prisoners themselves or, in the case of bulk consignments, by the camp leaders to whom the distribution is entrusted. The acknowledgments which the Central Agency holds show that the vast majority of parcels duly reach their destination. he second heck is provided by the reports in letters spontaneously addressed to the Gentral Agency by prisoners. The third check is supplied by the reports of the Delegates of the International Red Cross Committee who visit the camps. They are given every facility to interview the camp leaders as well as the prisoners themselves.
"These three methods of checking, in the opinion of the Central Agency, combine to show that parcels arriving for prisoners who are a¢ or within the reach of camps are delivered to them.
"Unavoidable Delays. It is admitted that there are factors which militate against the speedy transmission of parcels. Th have affected parcels both for British and for French prisoners. Transpor difficulties, as is known, were a cause of delay in the delivery of parcels for British prisoners, but these difficulties have now been largely removed by the energetic action of the War Organiza. tion.
"Another reason the delayed receipt of parcels by individual prisoners is due to transfers from one camp to another or to working centres or to hospital. Further delay is caused by the exercise of censorship. Such @elays cannot, of course, be prevented by any action on the part of the organizations dispatching parcels outside German;
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.